1. Spoon, GA GA GA GA GA
2. Future of the Left, CURSES
3. Supersilent, 8
4. Panda Bear, PERSON PITCH
5. Battles, MIRRORED
6. Pantha Du Prince, THIS BLISS
7. Frog Eyes, TEARS OF THE VALEDICTORIAN
8. Menomena, FRIEND AND FOE
9. Deer Tick, WAR ELEPHANT
10. Stars of the Lid, AND THEIR REFINEMENT OF THE DECLINE
11. Animal Collective, STRAWBERRY JAM
12. Radiohead, IN RAINBOWS
13. Of Montreal, HISSING FAUNA ARE YOU THE DESTROYER?
14. The National, BOXER
15. Ned Collette, Future Suture
16. Fog, DITHERER
17. Nina Nastasia & Jim White, YOU FOLLOW ME
18. Boris & Michio Kurihara, RAINBOW
19. Jay-Z, AMERICAN GANGSTER
20. Feist, THE REMINDER
21. Aesop Rock, NONE SHALL PASS
22. Kemialliset Ystavat, KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT
23. Radicalfashion, ODORI
24. Islaja, ULUAL YYY
25. The Field, FROM HERE WE GO SUBLIME
26. Pharoahe Monch, DESIRE
27. St. Vincent, MARRY ME
28. Shining, GRINDSTONE
29. Jessica Rylan, INTERIOR DESIGNS
30. M.I.A., KALA
31. Parts & Labor, MAPMAKER
32. Ricardo Villalobos, FABRIC 36
33. LCD Soundsystem, SOUND OF SILVER
34. !!!, MYTH TAKES
35. MoHa, NORWEGIANISM
36. Andrew Bird, ARMCHAIR APOCRYPHA
37. Justice, [CROSS]
38. Field Music, TONES OF TOWN
39. Von Sudenfed, TROMATIC REFLEXXIONS
40. El-P, I'LL SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE DEAD
41. Blitzen Trapper, WILD MOUNTAIN NATION
42. Les Savy Fav, LET'S STAY FRIENDS
43. Victor Bermon, ARRIVING AT NIGHT
44. Roisin Murphy, OVERPOWERED
45. Dizzee Rascal, MATHS + ENGLISH
46. PJ Harvey, WHITE CHALK
47. Amy Winehouse, BACK TO BLACK
48. Iron & Wine, THE SHEPHERD'S DOG
49. Angels of Light, WE ARE HIM
50. Arve Henriksen, STRJON
The usual slough of albums I haven't heard a note of and could nary identify the genre is, as always, both overwhelming and inspiring... I like to think I haven't graced the surface of what's been good this year.
They've admitted that choosing Subtle's album last year was just to get some attention to the site, but they didn't really pull a similar move this year. Future of the Left is a cool choice (interesting story there about me playing their song "Manchasm" on my radio show at 5am without knowing they burst into "Collin is a pussy!" repetitions for the last third of the song) but Spoon was pretty predictable, considering they even liked the somewhat middle-of-the-road Gimme Fiction (2005). Ballsy too to include four standard top-10 indie albums as their 11-14.
I'm glad to see some love for Blitzen Trapper and Parts & Labor, and even my early favorite that I've since swept under the rug, Menomena. Anyone else think it's a contradiction that they appreciated the messy sprawl of Frog Eyes so much yet thought, apparently like everyone else, that Sunset Rubdown's album was too dense to be approached? Just a thought, SR being probably in my top 5.
As usual, I think they one-upped Pitchfork as the definitive indie e-zine this year. Say what you will about the 'fork's pretentiousness, a much sorer fate is they seem to be going the way of Rolling Stone purporting to cover all genres with equal scrutiny and growing predictable in the process. Unlike CMG, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who likes ALL of Pitchfork's Top 10.
